Imaging of the interior of soft tissues of the body, such as the female breast has been approached in the past by all known modalities, including ultra sound, X-ray, CT, MI and IR illumination, primarily for the purpose of detecting cancer.
A commonly used imaging method for breast cancer detection is mammography, which employs imaging by use of X-rays. Although this last method is accepted as the gold standard for breast cancer detection, it is not an optimal approach since it suffers from several well-known drawbacks. These drawbacks include involving the examinee to an unpleasant and uncomfortable procedure, also involving exposure to X-ray radiations. Furthermore, there is need to operate expensive equipment which is not available in the office of a practitioner but only in clinics, and the practitioner is required to deal with results providing only low resolution images.
Another method of detection relates to ultrasound technology, actually inexpensive, does not require exposure to X-rays but unfortunately, offers only unacceptable limited resolution.
It has been proposed in the past that IR imaging of soft tissues could become a good alternative to X-rays mammography, eliminating almost all the drawbacks listed hereinabove.
According to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,082 to Stapleton et al., proposes an omnidirectional, multispectral and multimodal sensor/display processor for the screening, examination, detection, and diagnosis of breast cancer using stable vision fusion of various wavelengths of illumination. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,275 to Nelson et al., provides a method and apparatus for high-resolution breast imaging which uses collimated light of a narrow spectral bandwidth rather than ionizing X-ray radiation.
Despite expectations, none of the above-cited patents have reached recognized use, if use at all.
However, regardless of the potential advantages, no IR device for soft tissue imaging, including mammography, has been developed to the stage of commercial application and professional acceptance, due to this method's low sensitivity which results from the very high degree of light scatter that characterizes the passage of IR beams through bodily tissue.
It is thus desirable to provide a method and apparatus as a superior alternative to current methods for soft tissue imaging as a procedure that is comfortable for the examinee.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an examination procedure, wherein the exposure to X-rays is totally avoided, resulting in high-quality imaging.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus configured to implement the method that is relatively small and inexpensive, so as to fit into, and be suitable for use in a practitioner's office.